ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Cassini Swan Song Image of Saturn Left Me Speechless

Planets and robots lack hearts and minds, but they’re especially good at impacting ours. In its last days before ending itself, human-built Cassini turned around and snapped this farewell mosaic image of Saturn. Its title: “Farewell to Saturn.” I don’t have the words to accurately describe the photo’s sublimity. I suggest you take a minute … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Warm Water Has Existed on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus for Potentially Billions of Years

If you were to fly over Enceladus’ southernmost regions, you’d witness a remarkable sight. With surprising frequency, this ice-covered moon spurts a plume of water into space—a telltale sign that a global ocean lies underneath. Scientists have struggled to explain how such a tiny moon could sustain enough energy to maintain a liquid ocean, but … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Intense Methane Rainstorms Carve Titan’s Icy Surface

If you were soaring above the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, you’d see mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas, but you might also run into a monsoon-like rainstorm. Severe weather doesn’t happen very often on Titan, but new research suggests than when it does, the skies unleash torrents of liquid methane that floods and carves … Continued

Tech News

Whoa, Scientists Have Detected a Ring Around This Wacky Dwarf Planet

Beyond Neptune sits one of the stranger dwarf planets, Haumea. This icy rock receives its flattened dinosaur egg shape from its lightning-fast rotation—a day only lasts four hours there. But it gets even weirder. New evidence is consistent with the presence of a ring. A tiny ring for a tiny planet. An international team of … Continued

Tech News

Cassini Took One Last Look at a Mysterious Glitch in Saturn’s Rings Before It Died

Peggy is something along the edge of Saturn’s ring, a glitch whose source we’ve never seen. Cassini took a last peek at Peggy during its Grand Finale destructive plunge, adding a final piece to the puzzle for future researchers to pore over when trying to understand this mysterious disturbance. 27-year Cassini project veteran Carl Murray … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

The Cassini Team Reflects on How it Feels to Say Goodbye to Their Spacecraft

Yesterday morning, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft slammed into the day side of Saturn, the brief flash of its vaporization marking the end of a 13-year mission. But it took people to turn this hunk of aluminum and silicon into an extension of our curiosity. For the past three days, I’ve chatted with engineers and scientists at … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Cassini Dropped Its Most Mind-Blowing Look At Saturn’s Rings Yet

Though Cassini only has a few days left to study Saturn before it dies, it’s seriously making them count. Today, NASA released what it says are “the highest-resolution color images of any part of Saturn’s rings.” In true Cassini fashion, they’re absolutely mesmerizing. The above image, taken on July 6th, 2017, is a natural color … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Cassini’s ‘Inside Out’ Movie From Within Saturn’s Rings Will Make You Emotional

On September 15th, Cassini’s 20-year-long exploration of the Saturnian system will finally—regrettably—come to an end. But even in its final act, the spacecraft has been sending back some of the most detailed images it’s ever taken. In one of its recent dives into the gap between Saturn and its rings, the spacecraft took a sequence … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

This Probe Might Investigate the Mysterious Ocean of Saturn’s Biggest Moon

Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is kind of like what you’d expect if Salvador Dali designed a planet. It has methane lakes, electrically charged sand, and allegedly, an ocean hiding under its crust. While the Cassini and Huygens spacecraft have revealed some of these mysteries to us, so many lingering questions about this weirdo moon remain. … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Why We Still Don’t Know How Long a Day is on Saturn

The ending of NASA’s Cassini mission is a truly intoxicating cocktail of emotions; on one hand, the data from this 20-year-long mission will fuel scientific research for years to come. On the other hand, where are we going to get our regular updates on everyone’s favorite gas giant? What about the photos? Seriously, our Saturn-induced … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Saturn’s Moon Titan May Have the Perfect Landing Spot For Spacecraft

Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is a giant nightmare beach. While its electrically charged sand wouldn’t make for a relaxing vacation, new research suggests the planet might not be as hostile to robotic visitors as we think. Although its lakes are full of ultra-cold liquid methane and ethane, they could be placid enough for future space … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Has Toxic Booze On Its Breath

You think you have it rough because you spent the weekend eating tequila-soaked watermelon? That’s Juicy Juice compared to what Saturn’s moon Enceladus has been steeping itself in. Astronomers have spotted the organic molecule methanol surrounding the icy moon. Methanol, in case you forgot, is a highly toxic form of alcohol that can literally leave you … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Saturn’s Hexagonal Storm Is Pure Chaotic Beauty In New Cassini Images

Cassini’s last hurrah has been so bittersweet: On the one hand, it marks the end of a 20-year-long journey to explore Saturn and its moons. But the Grand Finale has also featured some of the most spectacular shots of the gas giant and its moons ever taken. It’s a complex cocktail of emotions. Today, the … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

A Wild Origin Story For Saturn’s Most Mysterious Moon

Enceladus is having a moment: ever since NASA announced it had all the basic ingredients to support life, people have become interested in the unusual Saturnian moon. In addition to hiding a warm subterranean ocean beneath its crust, Enceladus produces enough energy from its hydrothermal vents that could hypothetically support alien microbes. To add another … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Cassini’s Second Grand Finale Dive Might Be Outshining the First One

Cassini’s six-month-long Grand Finale mission has become the unofficial nerd Super Bowl: each time the NASA-led spacecraft drops a new batch of raw images, we jump to our computers and frantically scroll through to find the best. (Actually, we never leave our computers, because we are nerds.) But in any case, the raw photos from … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

This Is Our First ‘Sound’ From the Creepy Void Inside Saturn’s Rings

Today, Cassini prepares to once again boldly go where no spacecraft has gone before: into the gap between Saturn and its rings. While we’re all excited to see the the results of Cassini’s second dive, astronomers are still parsing through the findings from her first. And some, including a soundscape generated from the emptiness, are … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Cassini Has Made Earth Feel Small, But Part of Something Bigger

Earth is exhausting—excruciatingly so, if you’re a young curmudgeon like me. At times, performing even the most mundane tasks, like commuting on a crowded, smelly subway car, feels like an Olympic marathon designed to test one’s patience. Space compels us because it forces us to think outside this myopic view of ourselves—not in a “Dust … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

This Picture of Earth From Within Saturn’s Rings Will Make You Emotional

Sometimes, the majesty of the final frontier—a cold, unfeeling space—has the power to make our eyes misty. The images from NASA’s Cassini mission have often been able to do this, and since the spacecraft is dying soon, it makes the experience all the more emotional. Before it goes out in a blaze of glory, Cassini … Continued

ScienceSpace & Spaceflight

Why Is Saturn Making So Much Pasta?

Saturn is having a moment. Today, NASA announced that one of its moons, Enceladus, has the key ingredients to support microbial life. Around the same time, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft dropped some jaw-dropping images of another one of Saturn’s quirky moons, and while this one may not have a subterranean ocean, it sure is an adorable … Continued

Tech News

Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Has the Basic Ingredients For Life

Saturn’s moon Enceladus features a warm subterranean ocean covered in ice. In an extraordinary new finding, scientists have confirmed the existence of a chemical energy source within this moon’s water that’s capable of sustaining living organisms here on Earth. Enceladus is now officially the best place beyond Earth to look for life. Molecular hydrogen is … Continued